I've had turbo timers on my Legacy GT and current WRX.

My understanding is that the engine is left to 'tick over' after a hard drive to let whatever coolant circulate round the turbo to give it time to cool down (otherwise it can crack due to heat stress); I read on this forum that if u drive hard at night, switch the engine off and open the bonnet in the dark you can see the turbo glowing red 'cos it gets so hot.

The first turbo timer I had set its timing automatically - a hard 40 minute drive at 100kph+ would have the turbo timer sitting on 5+ minutes running time after stopping.

Current vehicle has manual setting, so I take the previous automatic setting as a guide - 5 mins after a motorway run, but down to 1 min or so if there's been a reasonable amount of town driving afterward (traffic light stops and starts, etc).

And yes it does get some getting used to walking away from the vehicle when the engine is still running.

And yes, the alarm system has to be 'de-sensitised' so if doesn't go off when the engine stops and you're a half mile down the street.

regards

 

I want to get a Turbo timer for my car but don't know much about them. I was speaking to a bloke yesterday who had a pulser and his timer had loads of other uses on it. To be honest I would just like one that just does the job, can anyone recommend one. This also brings me to my other point. We all know that turning the engine off straight away after hard driving is really bad for the turbo. To be honest the only reason I know this is through the internet and this forum. So why if it's so bad for the engine do they fail to mention it in the Subaru manual?

On another note, the reason why I was speaking to the bloke in the Pulsar was because we'd just had a quick race up a straight road. He claimed he'd uprated his car to 300bhp... lets just say my 235 horses must have been to the gym more. My UK300 is still a bit tight as well, only done 1,700 miles.

 

My car has a warning on it saying keep the engine running for 1 minute after hard use. it is on the back of the drivers sunvisor! In japanese!

Clifford alarms have built in turbo timers, tey are quite good. Or go for a blitz model. I believe they are really well specced.

 

Pls remember that Turbo Timers CAN invalidate cat 1 alarms - well worth checking first!

Mossman

 

Cheers for that I'll check it out

 

My car MY00 has a warning sticker on the sunvisor and drivers door to leave the motor idling for 1 minute. I have a Blitz dual turbo timer and it's a great kit. You can set it yourself to allow idling for anything up to 10 minutes or leave it on auto and it works out how long your motor needs to idle depending on how hard you have been driving it. It also has a boost gauge and gives you a peak boost reading too. Don't know what the situation is with the cat 1 alarms though.

Cheers,

WREXY.



[This message has been edited by WREXY (edited 15 August 2001).]

 

For what it is worth, they are also illegal.

It is an offence to leave a vehicle unattended with its engine running

Not that it would bother many people

Jason

 

its up to you what you fit to your car but as JSH said its an offence (on public roads etc)and because of this i see it as a waste of money i perfer to drive my car off boost for the last 2 miles of my trip (providing i know where i am going)then just leave the engine running for about 2 mins
some one said they leave there car running for 5 mins + surly this will make the car even hotter as there will be no air flow to remove the heat ?

 

I've got a clifford 600 with a TT,this DOES NOT invalidate the cat1,and yes they are illegal when used on public roads but NOT on private drives/car parks etc.....

555

 

i have a blitz turbo timer on my car. it does other things too, but the good thing is it calculates how long to leave the engine running. sometimes it shuts down fairly quickly, if ive been driving gently.better than sitting in the car for a minute.
i was always told its better to gently drive your car home for the last 5-10 mins,out of boost, than sit on the drive letting it cool down.
i also intend to get remote start fitted in the near future too, just in time for winter

 

Thanks guys, I'm not sure I'll go for a Timer now. I think I'll just get into the habit of driving slow for a few miles. The real pain in the **** is when you need to pop into a service station from the motorway. You do look a bit weird sitting there for a few minutes while you wait for the thing to cool down.

 

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:<HR>Originally posted by turbo spudgun:
<B>i have a blitz turbo timer on my car. it does other things too, but the good thing is it calculates how long to leave the engine running. sometimes it shuts down fairly quickly, if ive been driving gently.better than sitting in the car for a minute.
i was always told its better to gently drive your car home for the last 5-10 mins,out of boost, than sit on the drive letting it cool down.
i also intend to get remote start fitted in the near future too, just in time for winter [/quote]

Hey, now you need to tell me more about this. Is there such a bolt-on system available? Any idea where and how much these are, because I like the idea of warming the thing up for a few minutes before I jump in.